The present invention relates to a chair control mechanism with a latch and a method of retrofitting a chair control mechanism with a latching apparatus.
Chairs may have adjustable parts such as adjustable arm rests, seat and backrest. The angle the seat makes with respect to the floor, for instance, may be adjustable. In some such chairs, a person who wishes to lean back in the chair while maintaining the angle between the seat and backrest may move a control arm axially from a locked position to an unlocked position, to release the seat and backrest to tilt from an upright position. The seated person may subsequently return the seat and backrest to the upright position. In such an instance, to reclaim stability and avoid an unintentional lean, the seated person may move the control arm from the unlocked position to the locked position.
Unfortunately, the control arm may tend to creep axially during normal use of the chair such that the control may have a tendency to disengage from its locked position. This unintentional disengagement frees the seat to tilt, presenting a nuisance, or possibly even a dangerous situation to the user.
A latch for a chair control mechanism is adapted to decrease a likelihood of the mechanism becoming unintentionally disengaged from a locked position.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention there is provided a chair control mechanism with a latch including an arm mounted in a main bracket for axial sliding between a first position and a second position and a latch bar extending transversely of the arm and biased against the arm to increase the force necessary to axially slide the arm.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of retrofitting a chair control mechanism with a latching apparatus, where the chair control mechanism includes an arm mounted in a main bracket for axial sliding between a first position and a second position, the method includes biasing a latch bar against the arm, to increase the force necessary to axially slide the arm, where the latch bar extends transversely of the arm.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a chair control mechanism with a latch. The chair control mechanism includes an arm mounted in a main bracket for axial sliding between a first position and a second position and a latch bar biased against the arm to increase the force necessary to axially slide the arm. The arm has a restraint adapted to engage the latch bar while the arm is in the first position, such that the axial sliding of the arm into the second position is possible only after providing a force necessary to disengage the latch bar from the restraint.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.